The White Pass crews were not enamored with the K-28s. It may have been because the 28s were Army locomotives.
If you read accounts of the winter operations of the White Pass while under U.S. Army control you'll be quick to pick up the lack of respect each group had for each other. The Army crews thought they knew how to run a railroad better than the White Pass people. The White Pass people knew their railroad, the weather, and the quirks of operating in those conditions.
The result was a lot of trains buried in snow. There are photos of K-28s buried in the snow, stranded out on the line.
Throw in the fact the Army abused the K-28s and did as little maintenance as possible, from what I've been able to learn, and you have outside frame 2-8-2s, owned by an entity the White Passers didn't respect too much in terms of operating a mountain railroad, and they were probably worn out and may not have been a good purchase - especially if new 70-class power was going to be purchased.
Another issue is how the White Pass dealt with ice. They used different flangers than the Rio Grande and did not have drag flangers that cleared a wider path in the ice. This lead to the counterweights on their outside frame locomotives hitting ice ledges and either derailing or causing damage to the locomotive. - This at least is according to what I've read and heard.
Many of the beloved Colorado locomotives were old when they went to Alaska and just plain worn out when the war ended.
Hope that sheds some light.
While I have never heard this, the White Pass seems to have bought primarily Baldwin locomotives. That could have figured into the equation as well. CMOs like what they like.
